Josh’s Introduction:
Welcome to Independent Study Day. We know that taking a day to not go Wonderland or Hanlan’s Point Beach is a tough call but we hope that you are getting something out of this.
Jess and I started Independent Study Day because we saw some wide gaps between the calibre and quality of drinks between a lot of the bars in Toronto and we thought: “How can we get everyone working at the same level?” So we have people in this room that manage Michelin recommended spots, we have vets that have been slinging beers and shots for years and we have some food runners and bussers just looking to figure out where they fit in the world of bartending. You can work at the same level as the fanciest hotel bar in the world even if you are just serving rye and gingers. While on the topic, Forty Creek Whisky is helping us pay the bills this month and Chris is here to talk with anyone that wants more info about Grimsby’s greatest export outside of Alexisonfire.
A lot of you have been here before. A lot of you are great regulars, thanks for dedicating the time to this. I want to go back a second and say that we really hope that you are getting something out of all of these talks. Just coming to ISD to hang out and eat tacos is…fine…but we hope that when you leave here each month, you are leaving with something you can use at your bar that night. We hope that you leave here both empowered with new knowledge and humbled by seeing that you are in a room full of people that know more or different things than you and that you take that with you. Hopefully everything you hear from presenters and peers doesn’t float away the second you get on the streetcar. We hope that you are putting this knowledge to use, somehow. If you have ideas about themes for future Independent Study Days, we have a suggestion jar, that you can use.
Someone who, in the 14 or so years we’ve known each other, has meticulously documented every experience she’s ever had, and references them frequently, is Christina Veira.
Christina was a server at the first wave of “Upscale Casual” restaurants that Toronto HAS to be the capital of. She was at Grace, which is where DaiLo has been for the last ten years.
I first met Christina at 416 Snack Bar where she would serve Blackbirds to regulars and overproof rum to friends, and would talk about some extremely intense bike trip she was planning.
In 2016 we worked together at the Harbord Room for the last 10 months of it’s existence, but it wasn’t our fault that it closed. I am going with John Tory for that one. What’s he gonna do?
From 2016 onward, as anyone with an Instagram and a thirst for bar knowledge knows, Christina has expanded outward from making and serving drinks.
Currently Christina is one of the owners at Bar Mordecai which is a fixture on North America’s and World’s Best Bar lists as well as Best Bars in Canada, best Bars in Toronto, Best Bars that I feel personally comfortable drinking 7 double rye and gingers at.
She has spent 5 years on the Drinks International Top 100, and won dozens…it has to be dozens, of bar and beverage related awards. She has done guest spots all over the world and she has worked closely with Wine and Spirits Education Trust, WSET, to build out and deepen the level of knowledge we all have about spirits in general.
You probably saw that she was named a Tales of The Cocktail Catalyst and got an award for that…like 6 days ago.
But you all already knew that from following literally any drinks publication and her Instagram.
There are a lot of people watching this online or that are in this room that think that getting to the level Christina is at comes quickly. That’s definitely NOT the case. There are a lot of steps to take before you get to be recognized for you contributions toward making the hospitality industry more fair and equal and considerate.
What we are going to talk about today is team building. Recognizing what you know and where you fit on a bar team is essential to any level of success in the hospo business. We will probably talk about about Bar Mordecai specifically, but the story doesn’t start there.
You can view this conversation HERE.
